Saturday, March 28, 2009

1/100 Astray Red Frame Part 6

After leaving the painted parts from Part 1 to dry off for about a day, now comes the time to fine-tune them, particularly those small red lines on the scabbard and diamonds on the handles.

But first of all...

I suddenly regretted painted the end-cap of the scabbard in red. In part 1, I was like, "Oh, a bit of PG element for this 1/100 scale version would be cool." But last night I was like, "Oh, why should I follow the PG design when the two are totally different anyway?" ^^;

In the end, I decided that red for the end-cap isn't exactly the color that would make me feel comfortable and it should be orange on gold instead, just like what is shown in the manual.

I guess my friends were right about me sometimes, ^^; for someone being too "死心眼" (stubborn) XD

Anyway,

Just used my knife to scratch off the red paint and then paint the kojiri in gold again.

Scratched off the red paint spilled over the wall of those thin red line on the scabbard using the same method as well.[the one on the top is a completed one]

For scratching excessive paint off a part, a sharp knife is important, but a piece of cloth soaked with water is equally important as well, else where do you think you should dispose those particles that came off from the work? ^^ It's a bad idea leaving them around on the table, which might resulting in you inhaling some of them during the whole process.

Both pieces of the scabbard done ^^

Same thing for the diamonds on the handle as well.[the one on the top is a completed one]

Painted the Vs on one of the two pieces in red, not just the top surface but around them as well so that no white space can be seen when the handle is assembled.

The Vs are pegs that would bind the two pieces of the handle.

Painting the kojiri:

Orange on gold as shown in the manual

Marker used is Yosogo Permanent Marker Orange

The scabbard is assembled first before the painting, and cement/glue is used because there are too few snap-together points to bind the two pieces. I used paper clips to hold them while waiting for the cement to dry completely. Unlike the wait for Gundam marker paint to dry off, which can take up to a day (my preference), I think I just waited half an hour for the cement.

The reason for assembling the scabbard before painting the kojiri is to deal with its edge. Much like the kissaki (point) of the blade, the kojiri is supposedly sharp and has fine yokote (point-line) for this model,and of course it's not, for protection purpose for younger modelers. But still, the yokote should be painted as a single line using the marker, and you can't do that if it's on two pieces.

Painted kojiri - much darker orange than I expected because I painted more layers using the marker mentioned above. I was too careful to avoid touching the border, so my painting was too sissy. ^^;

But I'm pleased with the result actually. Darker orange is fine, because Gundam Marker Gold produced darker tone of gold than what is shown in the manual. So the two colors still match I guess (for being darker toned). And you can still see the difference when you compare the kojiri to the other red parts. ^^

With the body of the scabbard completed, there's no point leaving the Koiguchi (mouth) unassembled.

But there's a little consideration here:

The Koiguchi has a layer a red paint inside, and the Habaki (ferrule) has a layer of gold paint. When the sword is sheathed, you will get the two layers of paint rubbing each other off.

So to deal with that, I scratched off a bit of part from both ends inside the Koiguchi to accommodate the paint of the Habaki.

The blade fits in nicely now. ^^

Also, you could probably guessed from the painted Koiguchi that I didn't expect this issue to arise at the beginning. ^^; I found out when the blade stop sliding into the scabbard right at the Habaki.

Panel-lined the hamon (temper line) and Mei (signature) on the Nakago (tang)

Very very beautiful indeed ^^

Part 7 is coming up, and that would be the last part for the katana, last for the pre-assembly work for this model too. ^^

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About Me

After obtaining his Bachelor of Business (Information Systems), Ngee Khiong pursued his post-graduate studies in Master of Multimedia from Swinburne University. Prior to joining as a full-time teaching staff, Ngee Khiong has worked on the design of several commercial web projects, as well as teaching as a part-time lecturer in Swinburne Sarawak. After ending his near eight-year teaching career, Ngee Khiong is now working as an administrative staff at Sarawak Energy Berhad.